Matt Kavanagh letter to Tom Keell

Many thanks for letter & especially for
“Bulletin” which will come in very usefull. I did not know Barr had
written to you (I have seen him since) He wrote to me asking me to
write, & I have no file of “Freedom” by me, only my memory to relie
on, I wrote to you if you let me have some-thing to work on, I have told
Barr, that its almost certain they will turn my article down, for one
of the most important events in the history was the war, & your
attitude on it. Talk about Hamlet with the Prince left out, &
Freedom with T.H.K. left out. Barr knew nothing about that quarrel, he
was abroad in the army at that time.

When my article is read before the Edit. Comm. G
Cores will go stark raving mad, I would give a lot to be there, I have
not had a really decent row for a long time.

E. Goldman came last Sun, & they had the
biggest crowd in the Labour Hall in years, as the brunt of the work fell
on me, I as quite proud. I worked for a return visit & succeeded, I
want her back early in Feb while their interest is still warm, I sold
myself twice as many tickets as all the others together did, I sent your
friend Sweetlove 5/- worth. Took 2 for himself and Mrs. S-, but he had
put E G up for the night, she’s a celebrity. He wouldn’t give a poor
comrade a tanner for his doss.

Barr tells me he is disappointed over S. Wales he
was expecting to book up a number of lectures there for the Labour
College, but they will not give more than 10/- a lecture, & he will
not agree so that is off for the present.

I have been tonight to see a man connected with
the “Little Theatre” movement, & he has promised me he will do all
he can, to get her dramatic lectures & that we may be able next time
she comes here, to get to stay over & lecture Sun. & Mon. I
have worked hard in this town its time it showed some results.

I do not get to London much now, as I am getting
the old man now, I have been laid up with congestion of the lungs, &
as I am all alone in one room, it was a bit rough, & put a stop to
my open-air meetings. I hear Cores & Humphries are at logger-heads
all the time. G.C. is just where he was in 1912, he still wants to be
editor, and there are several others who want to be, & not one of
them would turn out to sell the paper, that beneath their dignity. Barr
is a level headed man & a good worker but he some job as sect. of
the Freedom Group.

I am glad you are keeping well, & hope to see you early in the summer, all being well when I go to see Janet Grove.

Yours Fraternally,

M. Kavanagh

Notes on names

Thomas H. Keell (1866-1938) had been editor
of “Freedom” from 1913 until 1927. As the paper begin to financially
flounder he moved Freedom Press and “Freedom” from London to Whiteway
Colony near Stroud in Gloucestershire. Between 1928 and 1932 he
published “Freedom Bulletin” on an irregular basis.

Ralph Barr was a London based anarcho-syndicalist. At the time this letter was written he was secretary of “The Emma Goldman Lecture Committee”. In
early 1937 he would become a member of the CNT-FAI London Bureau set up
by Emma Goldman on her return from Spain. On the 17th July 1938 he
spoke with Emma Goldman, Tom Brown and Mat Kavanagh at a mass meeting in
Hyde Park to commemorate the Second Anniversary of “the Revolutionary
Struggle In Spain”. Later he appears to have stolen money collected for
Spanish refugees – an incident which Ethel Mannin wrote about in the
short story “Downfall of a Comrade” published in her collection “No More
Mimosa” London: Jarrolds, 1943.

George Cores (1869-1949) had a history of
clashing with Keell over what he, and others, felt was Keell’s
proprietary attitude towards “Freedom”. They had criticized Keell’s move
to Whiteway feeling he had failed to consult the movement in his
decision. As a consequence Cores was part of the group that produced the
London based newspaper “Freedom” (1930-36).

Emma Goldman (1869-1940) At the time of Kavanagh’s letter Goldman was based in London.
In terms of her talk at Southend Goldman obviously was pleased with the
result.Writing to Alexander Berkman on 22nd January 1936 she said “the
League of Youth for whom I lectured insisted on two more lectures”
comparing this with a lukewarm response in Plymouth and elsewhere.

Tom Sweetlove was involved in the Anarchist
Eductaion League in 1913-14, and later in support for Russian anarchist
prisoners and exiles. A collection of his poems is in the International
Institute of Social History, Amsterdam.

John Humphrey eventually became the editor
of “Freedom” (1930-36). He wrote numerous pamphlets including “The
Colour Bar” London: International League of Peoples, nd; “Fascism”
London: Italian League for the Rights of Man, nd and “A Letter to Youth”
nd (1936?)